Falling with style.

Almost exactly one year on from his mobile debut, Joe Danger returns to phones and tablets with more thrills, vehicles and friends than ever before. It’s not quite as exhilarating or as surprising as it was first time around, but Joe Danger Infinity remains a frustrating joy to play, full of bright characters, challenging levels, and wonderfully eccentric touches.

One of the best aspects of Infinity is the way in which the gameplay has remained unchanged. It’s predecessor, Joe Danger Touch, made some really smart choices when it came to adapting what was originally a console experience to work with crisp, responsive controls on mobile devices. It did away with inputs like acceleration and braking – perhaps, the ones less suited to the interface – in favour of a vehicle that automatically charges forward. This worked, but it also refocuses the experience, placing much more emphasis on reaction times and the ability to negotiate obstacles nimbly while scouring levels for the myriad collectibles at the same time.

I thought it worked wonderfully, often producing a frenzied tangle of fingers, and my experience was exactly the same with Infinity. Whether it’s tapping to jump, pressing to duck, or swiping in various directions to pull-off wheelies, endos, or flips – it all just works without an ounce of frustration.

Infinity is neatly arranged, too. Levels are short, lasting little more than 30 seconds, and so I found myself playing dozens in a single session. And though individual stages are quite brief, I replayed many of them to fulfil each objective, whether it’s meeting a coin limit, popping all those bubbles, whacking moles (not the ones with spiked hats, of course), or collecting the scattered D-A-N-G-E-R letters.

Compared to Joe Danger Touch, the complexity ramps up fairly early on. Stages soon use the last game’s full repertoire of nasty obstacles – levels are strewn with spiked gates, messy oil slicks, branching lanes, and of course that old classic, shark tanks. It’s fun and an immediate challenge, but I also found it a little too familiar. There aren’t many new obstacles to contend with, just new arrangements of old threats. There are notable exceptions, like the combat helicopter firing missiles at you, but it’s largely more of the same.

That said, I still found levels demanding and the overall experience really enjoyable. It’s all about spinning multiple plates and keeping your cool. You have to keep a steady eye on the racer in the foreground as you quickly negotiate the gauntlet ahead, while scouring the background and scenery for hidden items. And on top of that, if you want to multiply your score you’ll constantly be swiping. It’s quite fiendish, because it turns your own hands into another obstacle to contend with. It’s a lot of fun and maddening when you miss that last collectible on a flawless run – yet, because levels are so short, I found myself instantly having one more go, and another.

Although the level construction is a little staid this time around, a lot of invention has been invested elsewhere, particularly the graphics and the variety of characters and vehicles you unlock over time. The conceit of Joe Danger being a stuntman of great renown has led to an action figure being produced, and in Infinity you play as that figure. The first thing you see is the even more pint-sized here bursting from a blister pack. It has no real impact on gameplay, it does produce some lovely and witty art direction. Joe and his pals now ride atop breakfast and snooker tables, cluttered with cereal and discarded playthings. For me it instantly recalled Micro-Machines, which is never a bad thing, and each level is brought to life by the series’ exuberant style. I don’t know if it’s the use of colour, the enthusiasm that pours from every character after a horrible wreckage, the way in which you can play as a cupcake and ride a rubber duck with wheels, or that ridiculously catchy music, but there’s just something about Joe Danger that makes me very happy.

Joe’s joined by a host of eccentric chums, from astronauts and crash-test dummies. Each is unlocked by collecting coins, though of course this can be expedited through micro transactions. This never became a sticking point for me, as you unlock new characters fairly regularly and not one is so desirable as to make the wait unbearable. The variety of vehicles – from huge comedy rockets to military jeeps – are all as responsive, but have slightly different animations and abilities. Some of the heavier-duty vehicles can crash through more minor obstacles, but for the most part, it’s just adds visual variety. The additional characters, however, allow you to chain scores that would be impossible to do with Joe at the beginning. If you’re chasing high scores, perhaps this might be a bugbear, but again, I played through and enjoyed myself without it ever becoming a gripe.

The only aspect of Infinity’s underlying microtransactions that become bothersome is the ‘super-boosters’. Fail a level just once, and you’re asked if you’d like to equip one of three perks: invincibility, a coin magnet (which also collects every item for you), or the ability to automatically perform stunts. They cost an alarming 69p each, but I never actually wanted to use them. Joe Danger Infinity presents a well-pitched challenge without them, so it became a non-issue other than that it constantly popped up to nag. I don’t want to overstate it – after all, it’s just a pop-up that can be dismissed with a tap – but it does break up the flow of the experience.